Natural Fibre
Definition
Fibre of biological or mineral origin. Animal (wool, silk, cashmere, mohair, alpaca), vegetable (cotton, jute, flax, hemp, sisal, coir) or mineral (asbestos; chrysotile remains in regulated use in India, as the 2011 Supreme Court ruling in Kalyaneshwari v. Union of India upheld controlled use and declined to impose a ban).
Related terms
- Anagen / Catagen / Telogen
- Hair growth phases. Anagen is the active growing phase (about 85 percent of scalp hairs), catagen the brief transition, telogen the resting...
- Cortex
- The middle, and largest, layer of the hair shaft. It contains cortical cells, pigment granules (melanin), and cortical fusi (air spaces). The...
- Cuticle
- The waxy, polymer layer covering the outer surface of leaf epidermal cells. It protects against water loss and herbivory but, forensically, it...
- Follicular Tag
- Translucent sheath tissue adhering to the root of a forcibly pulled hair. Contains nucleated epithelial cells from the inner root sheath and...
- Medulla
- The central canal of the hair shaft, which may be continuous, interrupted, fragmented, or absent. Medullary pattern and the medullary index (medulla...
- Medullary Index
- The ratio of the medulla diameter to the total hair shaft diameter. In companion animal hair identification, a medullary index above 0.5...
- Synthetic Fibre
- Fibre manufactured from regenerated cellulose (rayon, acetate) or polymer chemistry (nylon, polyester, acrylic, polypropylene, spandex, kevlar). Identified by birefringence, FTIR and pyrolysis...
Explained in
- Hair and Fibers: Nature, Types, Structure and ExaminationFibre of biological or mineral origin. Animal (wool, silk, cashmere, mohair, alpaca), vegetable (cotton, jute, flax, hemp, sisal, coir) or mineral (asbestos; c...